United States Congress
103d Congress - H.R. 4181 IH

HR 4181 IH

To prohibit an agency, or entity, that receives Federal assistance and is involved in adoption or foster care programs from delaying or denying the placement of a child based on the race, color, or national origin of the child or adoptive or foster parent or parents involved, and for other purposes.

April 12, 1994

Mr. WHEAT introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means

To prohibit an agency, or entity, that receives Federal assistance and is involved in adoption or foster care programs from delaying or denying the placement of a child based on the race, color, or national origin of the child or adoptive or foster parent or parents involved, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Multiethnic Placement Act of 1994'.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

(a) FINDINGS- Congress finds that--

(1) nearly 500,000 children are in foster care in the United States;

(2) tens of thousands of children in foster care are waiting for adoption;

(3) 2 years and 8 months is the median length of time that children wait to be adopted;

(4) child welfare agencies should work to eliminate racial, ethnic, and national origin discrimination and bias in adoption and foster care recruitment, selection, and placement procedures; and

(5) active, creative, and diligent efforts are needed to recruit parents, from every race and culture, for children needing foster care or adoptive parents.

(b) PURPOSE- It is the purpose of this Act to decrease the length of time that children wait to be adopted and to prevent discrimination in the placement of children on the basis of race, color, or national origin.

SEC. 3. MULTIETHNIC PLACEMENTS.

(a) ACTIVITIES-

(1) PROHIBITION- An agency, or entity, that receives Federal assistance and is involved in adoption or foster care placements may not--

(A) categorically deny to any person the opportunity to become an adoptive or a foster parent, solely on the basis of the race, color, or national origin of the adoptive or foster parent, or the child, involved; or

(B) delay or deny the placement of a child for adoption or into foster care, or otherwise discriminate in making a placement decision, solely on the basis of the race, color, or national origin of the adoptive or foster parent, or the child, involved.

(2) PERMISSIBLE CONSIDERATION- An agency or entity to which paragraph (1) applies may consider the race, color, or national origin of a child as a factor in making a placement decision if such factor is relevant to the best interests of the child involved and is considered in conjunction with other factors.

(3) DEFINITION- As used in this subsection, the term `placement decision' means the decision to place, or to delay or deny the placement of, a child in a foster care or an adoptive home, and includes the decision of the agency or entity involved to seek the termination of birth parent rights or otherwise make a child legally available for adoptive placement.

(b) LIMITATION- The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall not provide placement and administrative funds under section 474(a)(3) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 674(a)(3)) to an agency or entity described in subsection (a) that is not in compliance with subsection (a).

(c) EQUITABLE RELIEF- Any individual who is aggrieved by an action in violation of subsection (a), taken by an agency or entity described in subsection (a), shall have the right to bring an action seeking relief in a United States district court of appropriate jurisdiction.

(d) CONSTRUCTION- Nothing in this section shall be construed to affect the application of the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (25 U.S.C. 1901 et seq.).

END